On the polarization angle of skylight reflected by natural surfaces: Properties and application for remote sensing of planetary atmospheres
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| Title | On the polarization angle of skylight reflected by natural surfaces: Properties and application for remote sensing of planetary atmospheres |
| Authors | |
| Abstract | In this study, we focus on the polarization angle of light scattered by terrestrial atmosphere-surface systems. The polarization angle describes the orientation of the plane in which the linearly polarized portion of light propagates. We show for skylight how this angle varies with the solar zenith angle and that, for skylight reflected by natural surfaces, these variations remain the same for wide ranges of atmospheric conditions and surface properties. This provides a tool for extracting scattering properties of the atmosphere from remote sensing observations of the Earth without any knowledge of the underlying surface. We demonstrate this principle for simulated data, and apply it to observations obtained by an airborne polarimeter over open oceans. |
| Publisher | Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti |
| Date | 2011-09-15 |
| Source | 0365-0359 |
| Rights | Articles and conference papers published in Atti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti – Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali are distributed under the terms and conditions of a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (effective since 2009, Vol. 87). Correspondingly, authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work´s authorship and initial publication in this journal.Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal´s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). |